Comcast to launch Dating on Demand

Below:

Next story in Tech and gadgets

Cable giant Comcast is rolling out a new concept in personal ads, in video-on-demand form. The new interactive service is being promoted in advance of Valentine's Day.

So-called Dating on Demand was launched last summer in Philadelphia, Comcast's home base, and is now available to subscribers nationwide.

Profiles of singles can be viewed at no additional expense by users of Comcast's digital cable service. To contact the person in the ad, one has to to sign up and pay for an additional Internet dating service, offered by HurryDate. Beginning next week, profiles of singles from Philadelphia and Chicago will become available.

Comcast expects to keep a couple hundred profiles available at any given time. It will hold tapings in a handful of cities to help produce the ads this spring. Comcast Vice President Page Thompson says it will consider videos submitted by individuals.